Michele Bachmann: The (not) Jewish presidential hopeful

As with every US Presidential election, the candidates are after the Jewish vote. (The fact that they'd also quite like to capture the Christian vote, the Muslim vote, the Humanist vote and the votes of the people who believe aliens walk among us, is not the point).

Because we're not even in primary season yet, it's the many, many Republican hopefuls who are clearing their calendars to visit synagogues and community centres, hug Jewish babies and eat as much honey cake as they can stomach.

Chief among them is Michele Bachmann. But apparently, she's already ahead in the race.

"Mitt Romney is facing a new challenge: He's having trouble raising money from some Jewish donors who mistakenly believe one of his opponents, Michele Bachmann, is Jewish.

Some Jewish donors are telling fund-raisers for Romney, a Mormon, that while they like him, they'd rather open their wallets for the "Jewish candidate," who they don't realize is actually a Lutheran."

Really? Really?

They think she's Jewish?

Ok, she has a passably Jewish first name (not biblical, but common enough in the community - her husband is Marcus, so, likewise).

And yes, her surname has that Yiddish-sounding suffix "mann" - I myself am proof that many Jews also have that honour - and she's bolshy, pushy, and looks like she could cook Friday night dinner for 42 with three different starters and two kinds of chocolate cake to finish. Oh, and she once spent some time on a kibbutz.

But, hello?! She's also what the left wing media might kindly refer to as a kerazzeee bible basher, who talks about the strength she finds in religion on a near-daily basis and whose husband runs a gay conversion clinic. Her maiden name is Amble and she studied at Winona State University, which I'm pretty sure doesn't have an active JSoc.

Without wishing to perpetrate a stereotypical view of Americans as "never knowingly intelligent", seriously guys?

Because if you're still not sure, here's positive proof. No Jew worth their smoked salmon would pronounce chutzpah like this.